The present invention relates generally to the field of 911 emergency systems and more particularly to a 911 status system and method.
Local telephone service may be provided by a number of different companies within a given geographic area. For instance, incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs), competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs), cable companies and wireless companies may all provide local telephone service in a geographic area. Agencies that provide emergency services to a community, such as Police, Fire and EMT departments commonly setup a 911 emergency service bureau. The emergency service bureau is served by just one of the local exchange carriers. As a result, multiple companies may be responsible for parts of a 911 call. These companies must share information in order to provide reliable 911 service. Presently there is no way for these companies to share information about parts of the network that may affect 911 service. In addition, most companies are extremely reluctant to share information with their competitors.
Thus there exists a need for a 911 status system that shares information on the 911 network between multiple companies, without giving away competitive information.